There are still a few more months left of the Year of Commander, and they're busy ones—Commander Legends is coming right up and Commander Collection: Green (including the exclusive all-foil version available to Premium stores) will round out the year in style.

And if you're running events, you can make the most of the Year of Commander by hosting Commander events. Whether in-store play is available or on hold in your part of the world, whether your events are in-person or online, the audience for Commander is massive, and it's growing every day.

Here are a few reasons why you should add Commander to your event lineup with Zendikar Rising.

The Commander Audience Tripled Between 2018 and 2020

The main reason you should add Commander to your event schedule is simple: it's one of Magic's most popular and fastest growing formats.

At the start of 2018, we saw around 9,000 unique players sitting down for Commander play in WPN members stores each week. By February 2020, that number had tripled—about 28,000 unique players a week. And it doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

Stores that Host Commander See 14% More Tickets Overall

When we froze metrics in February, all stores had on average 1,846 Tickets in a year. Stores that ran Commander Events had 2,111 Tickets. That’s 14% more Tickets.

That might seem obvious at first—run more events, get more Tickets. But the stores with higher Tickets weren't necessarily running more events than average. They just included Commander in their event lineup.

With the metrics freeze still in place, increasing your Tickets isn't a concern right now. But remember what a Ticket really means: a fan joining your events to connect with other fans. That's as much a priority now as it ever was—even if we have to go about it differently than we used to.

When players come to your store, they’re looking for more than a shopping experience—they're looking for a feeling of community. One of the many reasons Commander resonates with Magic fans is that it's an emblem of that feeling.

Plus, building your Commander community now means you'll get to experience the benefits of all your hard work when the metrics freeze is no longer in place—remember, Commander play will count toward Engaged Players in EventLink when metrics thaw, too.

Premium Stores Average More Than One Commander Event a Week

A ton of new players are coming to Magic through Commander. We know—we were surprised too. But Magic players love to dive right on into the complexity of the game, especially if they get to experience it with their friends.

When such a huge percentage of new players are coming to the game this way, it is important to provide them with the experience they want to have. And for a lot of players, that's Commander.

With that in mind, it's no surprise that WPN Premium stores run an average of 61 Commander events a year—well above the average.

One of the pillars of a Premium experience is offering new players a truly world-class first experience. So, providing the experience that players want to have is key.

If you've never hosted Commander in your store, Commander Nights: Zendikar Rising is a great place to start. Commander Nights is a weekly Commander league with rotating global rules and achievement-based prizes. Learn more about the program here, then schedule your Commander events!